Alliance News13 Aug 2018 09:54
LONDON MARKET OPEN: Stocks Open Lower As Turkish Meltdown Fears Mount
Mon, 13th Aug 2018 09:47
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London opened lower on Monday as investors fretted about trade tariffs and the plunging Turkish lira, which touched a new record low in early trade.
The FTSE 100 index was down 0.4%, or 32.26 points, at 7,634.75. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 0.4%, or 88.81 points, at 20,578.64. The AIM All-Share index was down 0.3% at 1,084.45.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.4% at 12,935.39, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.3% at 18,696.63, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 12,292.91.
Sterling was marginally lower against the dollar, quoted at USD1.2738 early Monday, compared to USD1.2776 late Friday.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 2.0%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 1.5%.
The Turkish lira hit a fresh record low early Monday after closing down as much as 16% on Friday as US President Donald Trump doubled steel and aluminium tariffs on Turkey, raising concerns the country may plunge into a financial crisis.